1000 gal hot water tank under my house

[mbryner]

Thanks for all your input on previous threads gentlemen.   Many of you may have seen my powerhouse construction on a thread on the LEF.   Since it's always fun to see what others are currently building, I thought I'd post a few new pics.   Remember how I was talking about putting a 1000 gallon concrete septic tank under my house for a heat sink?   Well, the house footings are going to be poured on Friday, and the tank is in place as of yesterday.    The powerhouse where the 6/1 lives is in the background on the 1st pic.   You can't see it on the tank, but there are 2 inch PVC pipes x 8 coming through the lid of the tank.   They will come up into the mechanical room in the basement.   The 2 ft manhole will allow me to line it with polyiso insulation foam inside.   I'm the idiot w/ the jumping-jack compactor on the 4th pic.  The green 4" pipe goes around the base of the tank and daylights to the hillside.  It also forms one of 4 "earth-tubes" for summer semi-passive A/C.   Now I'm glad I didn't put the foam on the outside of the tank after using the compactor next to it.

[mbryner]

And the almost finished powerhouse.   It just needs the rock facing (which my wife and F-I-L are supposedly working on), and a dark stain.   Too bad you can't see how it was heavily sand-blasted to make it look weathered!




Downstairs:



You can see the upstairs at:
http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=8109
Yes, I know the bed is above the engine, but the floor is sealed and the Listeroid exhaust is to the outdoors.

[BruceM]

What a great site, Marcus!  The Powerhouse is a masterpiece, the stone arch on the doorway is beautiful.  You take the prize for the ultimate power building!

[vdubnut62]

Whatcha been doin' with all your spare time?
Ron.

[rcavictim]

Outstanding!

[wrightkiller]

Hey Doc ..You might want to move the propane tank out side and run the hose through the wall...not a good idea having them in side

[rcavictim]

Hey Doc ..You might want to move the propane tank out side and run the hose through the wall...not a good idea having them in side

Are you referring to his propane tank turned into a exhaust silencer?  Only concern there is in case of a exhaust circuit fire someday the tank needs to be isolated thermally from nearby combustibles.

[wrightkiller]

       http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=8109

[mbryner]

Thanks for all the nice comments.   I have to admit, I didn't build it entirely myself.   A talented friend and I built the powerhouse together from my general design.   I wanted more experience for when we build the real house (which is now).  

re: propane tank:  if you're talking about the propane tank muffler, it is isolated from any other wood in the room and the exhaust pipe is surrounded by a couple inches of fiberglass as it exits through the wall.   If you're referring to the small propane tank for the camping stove in the upstairs, yes, I thought about my "little bomb" sitting there, but how is it much different than propane tanks in an RV?   There is cement board behind the burners to prevent the wall from getting too hot.

re: the arched door:  it's actually cement, not rock, poured in 4 stages by hand.   The arch was the hard part, especially the bevel.   The arch bevel was made by laminating multiple strips together and then routing the same pattern as the uprights.   The letters were cut from birch plywood with a laser cutter by a friend who makes wooden Christmas ornaments.  They were attached to a plywood form with headless pins.   We pulled out the pins right before pulling off the forms, leaving the letters in the concrete.   The letters only got pulled out of the concrete about 4 months later, when they had shrunk down from the sun and the concrete was fully cured.  Still the smaller parts of the letters broke, but it just makes it look even older.   You could do almost any text, not just a Bible verse, but that's what we thought was appropriate.   Also, you have to vibrate the form really good to get rid of air pockets against the form.   After the forms were off but before the cement was dry, we took a wet sponge and sponged off the arch to make it a rougher texture.

Here's a close up pic of it a bit earlier:
http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=7454

The powerhouse looks like log construction, but it's actually conventional framing, which some of you may have seen when I posted pictures last year.   The exterior "logs" are actually 2x8's which are screwed on from the inside to hide all the fasteners.   At the corners, we used 4x8 blocks at random lengths and grain-matched to the 2x8's to simulate overlapping logs.   Again, glued and fastened w/ hidden hardware.   It was cheaper, and will have less shifting with the humidity through the years.   (Now, our real house will have real 6x12 logs in the exterior walls.)   For the inside, I used 2x8 kiln dried fir, rough resawn on a bandsaw into 1x8's to make old-timey planks.

Here's a picture of the electrical system:

http://www.docbryner.com/4images177/details.php?image_id=7469

AC breakers on left, then 2 x Outback 3600 watt inverters stacked for 240 VAC, then DC breaker panel, then Outback MX80 charge controller.
The batteries bank is not visible to the right.    There's a trap-door from above, so I can drop-in the 150 lb L-16 batteries with the tractor when they need replacing.   That's the reason for the double doors on the upper side of the building: to get the FEL of the tractor in above the trapdoor.   The rest of the time the right hand door is locked, and the removable rudimentary cooking area is against it.

Since I don't weld yet, a friend from the hospital helped me weld together frame for the Listeroid from scrap I-beam from the metal yard.  The ST head is on a slider, so the belt tension can be adjusted.   The first concrete base was not heavy enough, so it was doubled later.   Now the engine doesn't rock n' roll anymore.

@vdubnut62:  I don't have enough spare time, I just don't get enough sleep!!!     i.e. worked last night on-call until late, today I have approx a half day of work, then I'll be out digging in the dirt w/ the GC again.  

OK, that's enough detail for now.  The kids are awake.   I'll post more pics every so often, to keep you updated.

Marcus

[wrightkiller]

  If you're referring to the small propane tank for the camping stove in the upstairs, yes, I thought about my "little bomb" sitting there, but how is it much different than propane tanks in an RV?   There is cement board behind the burners to prevent the wall from getting too hot.  

[tanks on an RV are out side ....It's always better to learn from others mistakes  then our own ;]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0u-dgueN8k

[mbryner]

Sorry Jens, forgot about this:

did you ever weigh the costs of just digging a deeper hole for the basement and then having a freestanding tank inside the basement ? Just curious what the thought processes of this were ...

I didn't want to lose the basement space and commercially available freestanding tanks of 500 gals are $5000-$7000 (!), vs. concrete tank at $970 + $700 of insulation.   Of course it cost an extra day of excavation, fill rock, drains, and compaction.   A concrete tank is stronger than a wooden tank, won't rot, has no thermal bridging from the studs, etc.   Since it's directly under the mechanical room, the pipes have a very short distance to the boiler,  kitchen directly above the mech room, and bathrooms nearby.   Or do you mean digging further into the hillside?  That would make the house footprint bigger.   Maybe I'll post some house plans next.

@wrightkiller:  Luckily that stove is only there temporarily.  Thanks.   I listen to all advice, especially to those with more experience!

[AdeV]

[tanks on an RV are out side ....It's always better to learn from others mistakes  then our own ;]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0u-dgueN8k

I think we can safely say that, if you necklace then shoot your propane tank(s),  you absolutely deserve what's going to happen next....

[mkdutchman]

propane tanks are safe anywhere, provided temperature is kept down and they are not overfilled. In my line of work a lot of our customers have the little 20lb bottles inside the house for lighting and heating, etc.

Be warned though, some gas codes and inspectors (as well as insurance) will absolutely hit the roof if you so much as mention "propane tank inside"

[mbryner]

inspector has no reason to know about the propane tank, kerosine heater, illegal sink, and bed above the Listeroid....

I like these dingalings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFPedGsqtrs&NR=1

[wrightkiller]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAyuq8sDCeg&NR=1&feature=fvwp